Peter rose. His feet trembled.
“Will he die?” he asked Blumentrost.
“He may live till the evening,” the doctor replied.
The Tsar was surrounded by dignitaries and led out of the chamber.
Peter had suddenly broken down, he was quiet and obedient as a child; he went wherever he was led, and did as he was bidden.
Tolstoi, noticing the Tsar’s hands were bloody, ordered a hand bowl to be brought. Peter submissively washed his hands. The water became ruddy.
He was taken outside the fortress, and rowed in a small boat to the palace.
Tolstoi and Ménshikoff were careful not to leave the Tsar. To distract and occupy him, they discussed various indifferent affairs. He listened calmly and replied reasonably. He issued decrees, and signed papers. Afterwards he never could remember what he had done that day. It was as though he had spent it in a trance or a swoon. He did not talk about his son; he seemed to have forgotten him.
At last about six o’clock in the evening, when Tolstoi and Ménshikoff were informed that the Tsarevitch was dying, they were obliged to remind the Tsar of him. He listened to them with an absent air, as though not realizing what they were talking about. Nevertheless he went in a boat to the fortress.